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John Nichols
John Nichols (2 February 1745 - 26 November 1826) was an English poet and book publisher. Life Family and youth Nichols was born at Islington, Middleex. on 2 Feb. 1745. His father, Edward Nichols, a baker, son of Bartholomew and Isabella Nichols of Piccadilly, was born on 18 Oct. 1719, and died at Islington on 29 Jan. 1779; and his mother, Anne, daughter of Thomas Wilmot of Beckingham, Gainsborough, was born in 1719, and died on 27 Dec. 1783. Besides John, only one child, Anne, survived; she married Edward Bentley, of the accountant's office of the Bank of England.Aitken, 2. John Nichols was for 8 years a favourite pupil of John Shield, who had a school at Islington. It was proposed that he should enter the navy. This plan, however, fell through when his uncle, Thomas Wilmot, an officer and friend of Admiral Barrington, died in 1751; and in 1757 Nichols was apprenticed to William Bowyer the younger, the printer. A Report from the Committee appointed to enquire into the original Standard of Weights and Measures in this Kingdom (1758) was, Nichols says, one of the first works on which he was employed as a compositor. Bowyer was a man of education, and Nichols seems to have received a very fair classical training under his auspices. At 16 he was writing verses at Bowyer's suggestion, and in 1763 he published two poems, which were followed in 1765 by verses in Dr. Perfect's Laurel Wreath, and prose essays in Kelly's Babbler and the Westminster Journal, signed "The Cobbler of Alsatia." (‘Life’ by A. Chalmers in Gent. Mag., 1826, ii. 489 seq.) Early career In 1765 Bowyer sent Nichols to Cambridge, to negotiate with the vice-chancellor for the management of the university press. The proposal came to nothing, because the university determined to keep the property in their own hands. Early in the following year Bowyer took Nichols into partnership, returning to his father half the apprentice fee. In 1767 they removed from Whitefriars to Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street. In 1774 they jointly edited The Origin of Printing, in two Essays Dr. Middleton and Meerman. With occasional Remarks and an Appendix. Nichols's important literary work began in 1775, when he edited an additional volume of Swift's Works, followed by A Supplement to Dr. Swift's Works, with Explanatory Notes in two volumes, in 1776 and 1779. In 1776 he edited the Original Works of William King, D.C.L., in three volumes. In these, as in several subsequent undertakings, Nichols received considerable assistance from Isaac Reed, who, like Richard Gough, Dr. Richard Farmer, Dr. Birch, Dr. Parsons, Warton, Sir John Pringle, and others, had already been attracted by the young man's antiquarian tastes. Bowyer died in 1777, and left to Nichols, who was an executor, the residue of his personal estate, after numerous bequests. In 1778 Nichols erected a monument to his ‘patron’ at Leyton. In the same year he joined a friend, David Henry, in the management of the Gentleman's Magazine, and from 1792 until his death he was solely responsible for that important periodical, and himself constantly wrote for it. In 1780 he published, with the assistance of Gough and Dr. Ducarel, A Collection of Royal and Noble Wills, with Notes and a Glossary;’ a valuable Select Collection of Miscellaneous Poems, in four volumes, followed by four more in 1782, in which he was aided by Joseph Warton and Bishops Percy and Lowth; and the first numbers of the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, which was completed, in eight volumes, in 1790, to be followed (1791–1800) by two supplementary volumes of Miscellaneous Antiquities. Nichols had married, in July 1766, Anne, daughter of William Cradock. She died on 18 Feb. 1776, and in June 1778 he remarried Martha, daughter of William Green of Hinckley, Leicestershire, by whom he was father of John Bowyer Nichols. In 1781 Bishop Percy was godfather to another of Nichols's sons, Thomas Cleiveland, who died on 2 April of the following year.Aitken, 3. Nichols was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, and he became an honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries at Edinburgh in 1781, and received a similar honour from the Society of Antiquaries at Perth in 1785. In 1781–2 he was in correspondence with the Rev. William Cole on literary matters, and promised to visit Cole, in company with Steevens, in 1783 (Addit. MSS. 5831 f. 128 b, 5993 f. 71, 6401 f. 149). In 1782 he went with Gough on an antiquarian pilgrimage to Croyland and Spalding, and experienced great courtesy from the family of Maurice Johnson, founder of the Gentleman's Society at Spalding. At this time, too, Nichols became an intimate friend of Dr. Johnson, whose ‘Lives of the English Poets’ were then passing through his press. Nichols often had to appeal for "copy," and Johnson frequently asked for books he required, and thanked his correspondent for information. On 20 Oct. 1784 Johnson wrote from field, "I hope we shall be much together;" but in December Nichols was at Johnson's funeral. Murphy says that Nichols's attachment to Johnson was unwearied. They frequently met at the Essex Head Club. In 1781 Nichols published his Biographical Anecdotes of Mr. Hogarth, and a Catalogue of his Works, with occasional Remarks, in which he was much assisted by Steevens and Reed. Half a dozen copies of a portion of this book had been struck off in 1780, one of which is in the British Museum, and subsequent editions, considerably enlarged, appeared in 1782 and 1785. Walpole, who was a friend of Nichols, said that this account of Hogarth was more accurate and more satisfactory than that given in his Anecdotes of Painting. A large quantity, but by no means all, of the original material is utilised in Anecdotes of William Hogarth, issued by John Bowyer Nichols in 1833. Afterwards Nichols and Steevens published The Genuine Works of William Hogarth, in three volumes, 1808–17. A few copies of a slight Life of Bowyer had been printed in 1778 for the use of friends; in 1782 appeared a large quarto volume, Biographical and Literary Anecdotes of William Bowyer, Printer, F.S.A., and of many of his learned friends. By John Nichols, his apprentice, partner, and successor. Of this work, which was in its turn to be the nucleus of a much larger undertaking, Walpole wrote shrewdly: "I scarce ever saw a book so correct as Mr. Nichols's 'Life of Mr. Bowyer.' I wish it deserved the pains he has bestowed on it every way, and that he would not dub so many men great. I have known several of his heroes, who were very little men." In the same year Nichols edited the third edition of Bowyer's Critical Conjectures and Observations on the New Testament, with the assistance of Dr. Henry Owen and Jeremiah Markland; and in 1783 he brought out, with a dedication to Owen, a second edition of Bowyer's Novum Testamentum Græcum. In that year, too, Domesday Book was published on a plan projected by Nichols. Later career Nichols's edition of the Epistolary Correspondence of the Right Rev. Francis Atterbury, D.D., with Historical Notes, was begun in 1783 and completed in 1787. An enlarged edition appeared in 1799, with an additional fifth volume, which contained a memoir of the bishop. In conjunction with the Rev. Ralph Heathcote, Nichols revised the second edition of the Biographical Dictionary, 1784, adding some hundreds of new lives; and he afterwards greatly assisted Chalmers in the enlarged edition of 1812–17. In 1785 appeared Miscellaneous Tracts by the late William Bowyer and several of his Learned Friends. Collected and illustrated, with Occasional Notes, by John Nichols. Bishop Percy was in correspondence with Nichols in 1782–3 respecting an annotated edition of the British Essayists, and the valuable 6-volume edition of the Tatler appeared in 1786, the principal merit of the work being due to Dr. John Calder, who had at his disposal the notes collected by Dr. Percy. The Spectator and Guardian, less fully annotated, in which Nichols had little share, followed in 1789, and between 1788 and 1791 Nichols published Steele's Correspondence and a number of his less-known periodicals and pamphlets. In 1787 he edited the ‘Works, in Verse and Prose, of Leonard Welsted, esq., now first collected, with Notes and Memoirs of the Author.’ Nichols was elected, in December 1784, a common councillor for the ward of Farringdon Without, but he lost the seat in 1786 after a violent party collision. Next year, however, he was unanimously re-elected, and was appointed a deputy of the ward by John Wilkes, who was its alderman. When Wilkes died in 1797, Nichols withdrew from the common council, but in the following year he was induced again to accept a seat, which he retained until 1811. He was hardly suited for political life, as he detested party warfare. In 1786 he had joined Dr. John Warner and Dr. Lettsom in a scheme for the erection of a statue to John Howard in St. Paul's Cathedral, and in 1793 land for a sea-bathing infirmary at Margate was bought in the names of Nichols, Dr. Lettsom, and the Rev. John Pridden. Nichols was much distressed in 1788 by the death (29 Feb.) of his second wife, in her 33rd year, a few weeks after the birth of a daughter. The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, illustrated with Historical Notes by John Nichols, was published, with Gough's assistance, in 1788. A third volume was added in 1805, and part i. of a fourth volume in 1821. A new edition of the whole work appeared in 1823, in 3 volumes. In 1790 Nichols published The Plays of William Shakspeare, accurately printed from the Text of Mr. Malone's edition, with select explanatory Notes, in 7 volumes.Aitken, 4. In 1790 "Peter Pindar" (John Wolcot) satirised him in A Benevolent Epistle to Sylvanus Urban, alias Master John Nichols, Printer, and in A Rowland for an Oliver, or a Poetical Answer to the Benevolent Epistle of Mister Peter Pindar (Works of Peter Pindar, 1794, ii. 358, 367–89, 399–409). Wolcot suggested that Nichols was himself quite ignorant of antiquarian matters, and depended on Gough, Walpole, Hayley, Anna Seward, Hannah More, and other contributors to the Gentleman's Magazine. His books were by hirelings, the blunders only being Nichols's, yet he was for ever speaking and dreaming of himself "and his own dear works.’ The first 2 parts of The History and Antiquities of the Town and County of Leicester were published in 1795. This work, Nichols's most important effort, and considered by himself his "most durable monument," was completed in 1815, and forms eight folio volumes. Gough again rendered valuable assistance; Nichols and he made annual excursions together, and regularly visited Dr. Pegge at Whittington. Several of Nichols's earlier topographical writings had been essays towards the county history. The Illustrations of the Manners and Expences of Ancient Times in England, a scarce volume, appeared in 1797. His next important undertaking, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D., arranged by Thomas Sheridan, with Notes, Historical and Critical. A new edition, in nineteen volumes, corrected and revised by John Nichols, F.S.A., was published in 1801, and was reprinted in 1803 and 1808. It had been in preparation as early as 1779. Nichols seems to have thought that rather free use was made of his work in Scott's edition of 1814. Later years Nichols retired from business to a great extent in 1803, living with five of his daughters at his native village of Islington. In 1804 he "attained the summit of his ambition" when he was elected master of the Stationers' Company. He gave a bust of Bowyer and several paintings to the company, including portraits of Steele and Prior, which had belonged to the Earl of Oxford, and in 1817 he transferred to the company 500l. four per cent. annuities, to be added to money left by Bowyer for deserving compositors. On 8 Jan. 1807, through a fall in his printing office, he fractured his thigh , and on 8 Feb. 1808 a calamitous fire occurred at the office, by which everything, except the dwelling-house, was destroyed. Nichols lost nearly £10,000 by the fire beyond the insurance, and the entire stock of most of his books was destroyed. Nichols did not, however, allow himself to be crushed by his misfortunes. He had already lost £5,000 by the History of Leicestershire, but he felt that he was in honour bound to complete the work. In 1809 he edited, in 2 volumes, Letters on various subjects to and from William Nicholson, D.D., successively Bishop of Carlisle and of Derry, and Archbishop of Cashel; published an enlarged edition of the Epistolary Correspondence of Sir Richard Steele (afterwards giving the manuscript letters to the British Museum); edited Pegge's Anonymiana, or Ten Centuries of Observations on various Authors and Subjects, compiled by a late very learned and reverend Divine; and wrote Biographical Memoirs of Richard Gough, Esq., which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for March and April, and afterwards in pamphlet form. These were followed in 1811 by a new edition of Fuller's History of the Worthies of England, in 2 quarto volumes, and in 1812-1815 by the Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, an invaluable bibliographical and biographical storehouse of information, in 9 volumes, being an expansion of the earlier Memoirs of Bowyer. Six volumes of a supplementary work, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, appeared between 1817 and 1831, two being published posthumously, and John Bowyer Nichols added two more volumes in 1848 and 1858. This work contains much of Nichols's correspondence, but is not so useful as the Literary Anecdotes. In 1821 Nichols wrote a long preface to the general index to the Gentleman's Magazine (1787–1818), in which he gave a history of the magazine. Though his sight was failing, much other work followed, including The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First, in 4 quarto volumes, published posthumously in 1828. For many years he was registrar of the Royal Literary Fund. He was also a governor of the City of London Workhouse, a corporation governor of Christ's Hospital, and of Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals, and treasurer of St. Bride's Charity Schools. Among his numerous friends, not already mentioned, were Sir John Banks, Dr. Hurd, Sir John Fenn, Sir Herbert Croft, and Edward Gibbon. His old friend Gough, of whom Nichols wrote, "The loss of Mr. Gough was the loss of more than a brother—it was losing part of myself," left him 1,000l., with 100l. to each of his six daughters. Nichols was a great collector of manuscripts and antiquities left by other antiquaries; and his own library, with some books from another library, were sold by Mr. Sotheby on 16 April 1828 and the three following days, and realised 952l.Aitken, 5. Nichols died suddenly on Sunday, 26 Nov. 1826, after a day spent calmly with his family at his house in Highbury Place; he was buried in the neighbouring churchyard. He had enjoyed wonderful health and spirits throughout his long life. Writing The following are the principal works, not already mentioned: 1. ‘Islington; a Poem,’ 1763. 2. ‘The Birds of Parnassus,’ 1763 and 1764. 3. ‘Some Account of the Alien Priories’ (from manuscripts of John Warburton, revised by Gough and Ducarel), 1779. 4. ‘Biographical Memoirs of William Ged, including a particular Account of his Progress in the Art of Block-printing,’ 1781. 5. ‘The History and Antiquities of Hinckley in Leicestershire,’ 1782 and 1813. 6. ‘The History and Antiquities of Lambeth Parish’ (with Ducarel and Lort's aid), 1786. 7. ‘The History and Antiquities of Aston, Flamvile, and Burbach in Leicestershire,’ 1787. 8. ‘The History and Antiquities of Canonbury, with some Account of the Parish of Islington,’ 1788. 9. ‘The Lover and Reader, to which are prefixed the Whig Examiner,’ &c., 1789. 10. ‘The Lover, written in imitation of the Tatler, by Marmaduke Myrtle, gent., to which is added the Reader,’ 1789. 11. ‘Collections towards the History and Antiquities of the Town and County of Leicester,’ 2 vols. 1790. 12. ‘Chronological List of the Society of Antiquaries of London’ (in conjunction with Gough), 1798. 13. Jacob Schnebbelie's ‘The Antiquaries' Museum’ (completed by Gough and Nichols), 1800. 14. ‘Brief Memoirs of John Nichols,’ 1804. 15. ‘Some Account of the Abbey Church of St. Albans’ (by Gough and Nichols), 1813. Nichols was a constant contributor to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ and some of his verses are in his ‘Select Collection of Poems;’ and he edited numerous works by Steele, Pegge, George Hardinge, White Kennett, Kennett Gibson, and many others. Recognition There are several portraits: (1) painted by Towne, 1782, engraved by Cook, and published in Collections for Leicestershire, and Brief Memoirs of John Nichols; (2) painted by V.D. Puyl, 1787; (3) drawn by Edridge, published in Cadell's ‘Contemporary Portraits;’ (4) drawn by J. Jackson, R.A., æt. 62, published by Britton, and given in ‘Literary Anecdotes, vol. iii.; (5) painted by Jackson, mezzotint by Meyer, published in History of Leicestershire; (6) painted by Jackson, 1811, engraved by Basire, published in Timperley's Encyclopædia of Literary and Topographical Anecdotes; (7) painted and engraved by Meyer, 1825, published in ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for December 1826. There is also (8) a bust by Giannelli. Publications Poetry *''The Buds of Parnassus: A collection of original poems''. London: J. Wilkie, 1763. *''Islington: A poem''. London: W. Hoggard, for W. Flexney, 1763. Non-fiction *''The Anecdotes, Biographical and Literary of the Late Mr. William Bowyer''. London: John Nichols, 1778, 1782. *''Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica'' (with Richard Gough). (8 volumes), London: John Nichols, 1780-90. *''Biographical Anecdotes of Mr. Hogarth, and a Catalogue of his Works''. London: John Nichols, 1781. *''Biographical Anecdotes of William Ged''. London: John Nichols, 1781. *''A New and General Biographical Dictionary'' (with R. Heathcote). (12 volumes), London: W. Strahan, et al, 1784. *''History and Antiquities of Aston Flamville and Burbach''. London: John Nichols, 1787. *''History and Antiquities of Canonbury-House, at Islington''. London: John Nichols, 1788. *''History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester''. (4 volumes in 8), London: John Nichols, 1795-1815. *''Illustrations of the Manners and Expences of Antient times in England''. London: John Nichols, 1797. *''Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century''. (9 volumes), London: John Nichols, 1812-15. *''Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century'' (with John Bowyer Nichols). (8 volumes), London: John Nichols, 1817-58; Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.. *''Minor Lives: A collection of biographies'' (edited by Edward LeRoy Hart). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Edited *William King, Original Works. London: John Nichols, 1776. *Jonathan Swift, A Supplement to Dr. Swift's Works. London: John Nichols, for H. Payne / N. Conant, 1779. *''A Collection of all the Wills, now known to be extant, of the Kings and Queens of England, etc.. London: J. Nichols, 1780. *''A Select Collection of Miscellaneous Poems.(8 volumes), London: John Nichols, 1780-1782. *Francis Atterbury, Epistolary Correspondence. London: John Nichols, for C. Dilly, 1783. *''Miscellaneous Tracts: By the late William Bowyer, Printer, F.S.A. and several of his learned friends''. London: John Nichols, 1785. *''The Tatler: The lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, and additional Tatlers'' (edited with J. Calder, with notes by Thomas Percy). (6 volumes), London: John Nichols, for C. Bathurst, et al, 1786. *Leonard Welsted, Works: In verse and prose. London: John Nichols, 1787. *''Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth''. (3 volumes), London: John Nichols, 1788; London: J.B. Nichols, 1828. *Richard Steele, The Lover, by Marmaduke Myrtle, gent, to which is added the Reader. London: John Nichols, 1789. *Francis Atterbury, Miscellaneous Works. London: John Nichols, 1789-1798. *Richard Steel, The Theatre. London: John Nichols, for G.G.J. & J. Robinson / J. Walter/ C. Dilly, 1791. *Richard Steele, Epistolary Correspondence. London: John Nichols, 1797. *Jonathan Swift, Works. London: John Nichils, f1775; (19 volumes), 1801; (24 volumes), 1803, (19 volumes), 1808. *''Letters on Various Subjects, to and from William Nicholson''. London: John Nichols & Son, 1809. *Samuel Pegge, Anonymania. London: John Nichols & Son, 1809. *Thomas Fuller, History of the Worthies of England (edited with Malone). London: John Nichols & Son, for F.C. & J. Rivington, et al, 1811. *Samuel Pegge, Curialia Miscellanea; or, Anecdotes of old times. London: J. Nichols, Son, & Bentley, 1818. *George Hardinge, Miscellaneous Works: In prose and verse. London: J. Nichols, Son, & Bentley, 1818. *''Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities, of King James the first''. (3 volumes in 4), London: J.B. Nichols, 1828. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:John Nicholls, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 28, 2016. See also *List of British poets *List of British book publishers References * . Wikisource, Web, Aug. 29, 2016. Notes External links ;Poems *John Nichols (1745-1826) info & 3 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830 ;About * Nichols, John (1745-1826) Category:1745 births Category:1826 deaths Category:English antiquarians Category:18th-century antiquarians Category:19th-century antiquarians Category:English printers Category:18th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:English poets Category:Poets